No matter how many times I think about what’s going on in Flint, Michigan, I still can’t believe this has been allowed to happen. We’re not talking about this happening in some poor, developing nation halfway around the world. This has happened in the richest nation that’s ever existed mostly because of greed and incompetence.

It’s absolutely sickening.

How Michigan Governor Rick Snyder is still in office is mind-boggling. Literally thousands of children have been poisoned, causing irreversible damage to their health (including brain development), all because of the greed and incompetence of Snyder and his administration – yet he’s still governor. It’s immeasurably infuriating to think about.

“There is no doubt in my mind that if a corporate CEO did what Governor Snyder’s administration has done, he would be hauled up on criminal charges,” Cummings said.

This is absolutely true. Based upon the facts as we now know them, what happened in Flint wasn’t an accident. This was brought on by elected officials putting money ahead of human lives.

Rep. Cummings then ran through a few emails proving that several people linked to the administration knew about what was going on and emailed Snyder’s office about it… yet practically nothing was done. Cummings even read quotes from Snyder’s own chief of staff who had sent warnings to the governor concerning studies that came back positive for unsafe levels of lead in the water. Yet, still, nothing was done.

“There will now be an entire generation of children who suffer from brain damage, learning disorders, and many other horrible effects of lead poisoning that were afflicted on them by Gov. Snyder’s administration,” Cummings stated.

Throughout the process Snyder pulled the “I don’t recall that specific discussion/email” line, clearly trying to play dumb when Cummings confronted him on details that showed his office knew about the water situation in Flint long before anyone did anything about it.

This entire situation is appalling. We’re far from perfect as a nation, but if there’s one thing every single American should be able to do, it’s trust the water that flows into their home.

And it’s disgusting to me how the Republican party actually seems to be defending Snyder, with many shifting blame to the EPA. While it’s true the EPA does shoulder some of the blame for what happened, the evidence is overwhelming that these children were poisoned by lead because Governor Snyder cared more about saving money than he did about protecting the residents of his state.

Though what’s so heartbreaking about all of this is there’s no way to “make it right.” No amount of money, apologies or even possible criminal indictments are going to fix the fact that the lives of the children impacted by this inexcusable poisoning will never be the same.

Allen Clifton is a native Texan who now lives in the Austin area. He has a degree in Political Science from Sam Houston State University. Allen is a co-founder of Forward Progressives and creator of the popular Right Off A Cliff column and Facebook page. Be sure to follow Allen on Twitter and Facebook, and subscribe to his channel on YouTube as well.